I’m joining a few recent musical dots again- on Saturday I posted Orbital’s Chime. Orbital’s epic and beautiful Halcyon had a backwards vocal part sampled from Opus III’s It’s A Fine Day (sung by Kirsty Hawksworth, a big hit in 1992). It’s A Fine Day was originally written and recorded a cappella by Jane and Barton and released in 1983. Edward Barton wrote it while living in Hulme, Manchester and it was sung by Jane Lancaster (his girlfriend). A haunting little song.

There are several versions of Orbital’s beautiful Halcyon- the one here, the lp version, is a minute or two shorter than the original 12″ mix (from the Radiccio single). Let’s not be too fussy- I’ll take any of the versions, they’re all superb. The Halcyon + On + On version is little more upbeat, more up front, less reflective, less sad even than the Radiccio one. It’s got a vocal sample, played backwards, from Opus III’s It’s A Fine Day (sung by Kirsty Hawkshaw). Live the Hartnoll Brothers like to chuck in Belinda Carlisle or Bon Jovi, and even the dreaded Darkness.